


Heil Hydra

by EmilieHardie



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: BAMF Skye, Gen, Hydra!Skye, SHIELD!Ward, Season 1
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-12
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-03-30 05:10:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3924118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilieHardie/pseuds/EmilieHardie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Garrett was the kind of evil mastermind who knew that the best second in commands were the ones no one ever saw coming. That was why he had his infiltrate Coulson’s special team. After all, who would ever think that the reformed Rising Tide double agent was actually HYDRA?</p><p>AKA The one where Skye, not Ward, was recruited by Garrett.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Out Of The Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Man, I'm seriously inspired by Skye at the moment. Anyway, this was just a little something I knocked up. This part is pretty much just re-hashing the end of 'Turn, Turn, Turn' and most of 'Providence'. The next chapter will be far less like what happened in canon. 
> 
> Anyway, I've got no schedule for this one since Sometimes I Hate The Life I Made is still my priority. It'll come out when it comes out (though, if you haven't read the other fic and the idea of Skye as Tony Stark's daughter intrigues you, you might want to go check that out).

Out of the shadows, into the light.

HYDRA.

The revelation of HYDRA within SHIELD came as a huge shock to Skye, not because she hadn’t known about them but because she hadn’t thought it would come so soon.

It was kind of funny, actually. Even when Coulson and his team actually knew that they needed to be worried about HYDRA moles, they never once worried about her loyalties. She hadn’t thought of that when she had convinced John to let her get into SHIELD via infiltrating HYDRA, but she was totally prepared to take the credit and pretend that it was intentional.

It had been surprisingly easy to gain everyone’s trust. Coulson wanted to save her and she let him think that he had. FitzSimmons wanted a playmate, someone besides each other to listen to their accomplishments and generally be less stoic than the specialists. May… had been a problem, but Skye had solved that by making sure that any mistrust could be misconstrued as jealousy by outside observers, possibly even by May herself.

That left Ward.

When he had first brought her in, John had measured her against the performance of Grant Ward and Skye had grown to resent the man. Sure, John had ultimately decided that no amount of emotional manipulation would make him side with HYDRA over SHIELD but he had always admired the specialist’s fighting skills. Skye, on the other hand, was very much a hacker. Oh, she had learned to fight - John wouldn’t have allowed anything else - but she had always known that she didn’t measure up to his first attempt.

She had very much enjoyed slowly but steadily bringing Grant Ward to his knees.

Hell, if HYDRA had been able to wait even another year, she could have had him so tightly wrapped around her finger that he might even have betrayed SHIELD. That was John’s plan, even though he hadn’t said as much. He had told her anything and everything about Ward, pointed out many different weaknesses she could leverage, and he wouldn’t have done that for just any seduction. No, he had plans for the specialist and Skye was kind of sorry that he wouldn’t have the chance to carry them out.

That’s what the disappointment was, not regret that she was going to have to stab Ward in the back. He was pretty but straight laced didn’t do it for her. Really.

Still, it was kind of impressive the lengths that he would go to for her. One little kiss and he had taken out twelve SHIELD agents at the Hub. He was good, very good as John was all too keen to tell her, but that had been impressive even for him. She had honestly thought that it wasn't going to be him coming through that door, that she would have to wait until a HYDRA agent had her and then prove her loyalties.

She hadn’t been disappointed at that thought, because she didn’t like Ward and she dared anyone to find evidence to the contrary.

She had played her part perfectly, so perfectly that not even John would have found a fault. She had been convincing, continued wrapping Ward around her finger even as HYDRA was coming out of the shadows. She didn’t know what the plan would be, if John would have her miraculously escape and continue to pretend to be loyal so she didn’t blow her cover. She almost couldn’t believe that John stuffed up.

She was never going to let him forget that, just as soon as she had gotten them out of danger.

“-I’ll find Agent Garrett the smallest, darkest cell in the Ice Box,” Skye heard Agent Hand say just as she and Ward walked up to the two senior agents discussing what to do next.

“I’d like to turn the key on that cell myself,” Ward said next to her and Skye couldn’t help the concern. She wasn’t sure how she was going to rescue John but it was going to be a lot harder with Ward there and out for his blood. “If you don’t mind, Sir.”

“Ward…” she said, reaching to hold his hand. She saw Coulson’s eyes flicker down, the corners of his mouth twitching up slightly. Apparently he was okay with a developing relationship between Ward and his protege.

“He was my S.O.,” he said to her before turning back to the two agents in charge. “I feel I should’ve known. It’s my duty to-”

“No one knew,” Coulson interrupted. “I didn’t know. That was how he beat us. By being a friend.” Skye was careful to keep her face neutral. That was coming uncomfortably close to how she had earned their trust.

“I spent years with that bastard,” Ward saigh roughly, voice breaking slightly. “Looked up to him. I want to see him suffer.”

“No,” Skye said, making her voice crack slightly. “Ward, don’t give him the satisfaction.” She tugged on his arm slightly so that he turned to face her. “I’ll go and you can live vicariously through me.” She turned her head to look at Coulson. “Besides, I want to go over the systems there, make sure that there aren’t any backdoors or nasty surprises.”

“Skye-” Ward said beginning to shake his head but Agent Hand was giving her an assessing look. Skye hadn’t had the chance to earn the woman’s loyalty but she knew that the woman thought that she was completely loyal to Coulson so Skye wasn’t too worried.

“Don’t mind the company, and there’s no such thing as too much paranoia any more.”

For a second, Skye thought that Coulson was going to protest but it was clear that Hand was in charge. She turned it out as Coulson got his orders and turned to look into Ward’s concerned gaze. “I’ll be careful,” she said quietly.

“I don’t like it.”

She let a small, almost sly smile slip onto her face. “Well, you’ve been having temper problems recently. Wouldn’t want you to get into trouble again.” It was similar to their previous banter, carefully designed to make it look as though she was feeling a little awkward and not sure how to proceed. Ward feel for it hook, line and sinker.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” he said gently.

“I know. But I want to,” she said, looking up at him through her lashes.

AC cleared his throat slightly, amusement fighting worry for the lines on his face. “Be careful, Skye,” he said as Agent Hand begun to walk away.

“I will,” Skye said, not lying for once, not that he could tell the difference. “And right back at you.”

“Don’t take too long or Ward might start pining,” he said, a worn grin breaking out onto his face.

Ward opened his mouth to protest but, faced with both their grins, gave up and just huffed. He was kind of adorable like that, not that Skye noticed. No, that was pathetic, she reminded herself. They were all pathetic for how easily they had fallen for the ruse. Okay, so she kind of appreciated AC’s trust but she couldn’t really believe how naive they were, considering all the shady non-HYDRA business that SHIELD got up to.

With a nod and a grin, she turned and followed Agent Hand, knowing full well that she might be leaving them behind forever.

 

“You know what I’m thinking, Agent Garrett? I’m thinking that the Ice Box or the Fridge is a little too comfortable for you. Maybe we should put you a little deeper underground,” Victoria Hand said before looking over at Skye. “What do you think, Agent Skye? Agent Ward shot the wrong Clairvoyant to protect you. Care to shoot the right one to protect him?”

It was almost too good an opening. Sure, Skye could see that Agent Hand realised that John would be a threat so long as he was alive but it didn’t matter. She had made a similar mistake to Coulson: she had mistrusted Skye for the wrong reason, and now that was dealt with she trusted her more than she should.

She stood, checked her weapon. out of the corner of her eye, she could see Hand smirking. Let her; she would learn better soon enough. She let the muscles in her face twitch, the hint of something like anger. Hand might have overlooked her but Skye needed to not give the other two agents even the slightest hint of what she was about to do.

She shot them. Two headshots, before Agent Hand could even react. Clearly the other woman had gotten sloppy in her old age. She didn’t even go her her gun before Skye spun and put a bullet in her chest. She gasped, and Skye took a step forward and put two more bullets in her, making sure that she wouldn’t be getting up ever again.

She turned to John, who was grinning at her like a proud father. He nodded at her, all the more valuable for how sparing he was with praise. Skye returned the gesture, before going to sit down. She looked down at Agent Hand, unable to fathom how such a high ranking agent could be put down so easily.

“So, did I tell you about this one time I was deep undercover?” John said, voice cheerful. Skye knew what he was doing, carefully probing for any sign that she might have gone so deep undercover that she couldn’t remember where her true loyalties lie. “The Sicilian backup team, a no-show of course. So I dropped through the skylight, used up my whole mag, and hit the final guy in the chest with a flare gun. Boy, you should have seen the look on that guy’s face when that thing went off. Oh and, he didn’t know what hit him.”

Skye looked up at her mentor, her everything. “They never do.”

And his smile became deeper, nastier. She felt one slip onto her face in return, an edge to it that Coulson’s team wouldn’t have recognised. Yes, she knew this, had missed it. John had seen her potential when no one else would, trained her and trusted her above all others.

He was her home.

Havana was pretty much exactly as Skye remembered it, with the unwelcome addition of Raina trying to get answers out of her. She couldn’t help but think that the scientist would be far less chatty with someone more intimidating but there wasn’t much that Skye could do about that. Besides, she had used her looks to her advantage more times than she could count.

“Bienvendios, Senorita Garrett,” the old barber said as they entered the shop. It was even her name: that was how John had gotten her out of the system, by adopting her. Legally as well as emotionally, he was her father.

“This is where we’re meeting the Clairvoyant?” Raina asked and Skye rolled her eyes at the slightly dubious tone.

“There’s no need to call me that anymore,” came John’s voice from under the towel. Good, he was going to get a chance to be melodramatic. He did love it so. “Name’s John, John Garrett. Guess you were expecting more the fortune-teller type?”

After a moment of hesitation, Raina shook his hand. “It’s an honor to finally meet you.”

“Please. Pleasure’s all mine,” John said, his game face on. Skye was under no illusions about her adopted father. He was a psychopath, and could be very charming. But that didn’t change the fact that he had seen there was worth in Skye when no one else had. “You’ve done great work for us on the Centipede Project.”

“It was your gift that showed me the way.”

John sighed and Skye felt a giggle bubble up. “Sorry, Flowers. I hate to disappoint you,” John said. “I never had any gifts. At least, not the kind you believed in,” he continued as the smile drained off Raina’s face. “Just a very high level SHIELD security clearance and a persuasive personality.”

Skye rather thought that he had left off the ability to locate other people’s weaknesses easily, sometimes with nothing more than a glance, but John had actually given a very accurate summary of how he had pulled the wool over SHIELD’s eyes. It didn’t require endless resources, just imagination and balls.

“You’re not clairvoyant?”

“Hardly. But if it’s any consolation, you weren't alone in believing it, not by a long shot.”

“So you’re a liar? You’re a fraud?” Skye didn’t stiffen, she was too good for that, but she really didn’t like Raina’s tone.

“An artist,” John said with barely a hesitation. “A con artist perhaps, but an artist all the same. Had to pull the wool over SHIELD’s eyes somehow. To do what we set out to do. So you remember what that was?”

“To change the world.”

Well, that was what Raina set out to do. John had other motives, and Skye backed her father. He was, after all, her father. He had rescued her and trained her. A whole world full of people who claimed to be nice and generous and kind and charitable, and the only one who helped a poor little orphan girl was a psychopath.

Suffice to say that Skye wasn’t a big believer in humanity.

“Why don’t you take a seat?” John was saying. “Let me show you how we’re doing that. Oh don’t worry. I wouldn’t dream of letting Ernesto cut your hair, just as I wouldn’t let him near Skye’s.”

Raina cut her eyes towards Skye again. The HYDRA agent wondered idly what she thought, since Skye had been the one to come looking for Coulson. Then again, the scientist was shockingly well versed in deception. Skye would do well to keep a close eye on her. She almost doesn’t do as John instructed, Skye can tell. Her steps were confident but not as confident as Raina’s normally were.

“Welcome to HYDRA,” John says by her ear and, yes, Raina wasn’t expecting that. Her head whipped around, fear in her eyes. Skye filed that look away for consideration at a later date. John was her adopted father, her teacher, her Yoda but he wasn’t clairvoyant. Even he needed someone to watch his back.

That someone would always be Skye.

 

The phone rang. Skye checked the display.

“Its Coulson.”

John smirked. “By all means.” He knew that she would never even answer the phone in front of him without permission.

“Hey, AC. Everything okay?”

“Not Coulson,” came Ward’s voice and Skye couldn’t help but stand up straighter or the thud her heart gave. “Just wanted you to know we’re using that program you have for erasing people’s histories.”

Skye felt her eyebrows rise. “That’s a pretty extreme option.”

“Its a pretty extreme situation. We’re terrorists on the run from a US General.”

Skye had to bite back a laugh. Oh, that was adorable. Ward thought that being a terrorist and having one lone general on his ass was an inconvenience. That would barely slow Skye down. Maybe he wasn’t as good as John thought. What she actually said was: “You guys have a plan?”

“Coulson had us evacuate. We’re on the Bus while he tries to figure out our next move.”

Skye pretends to catch her breath. “That explains the Navy jets Agent Hand picked up. They were looking for us.” No one listening would be able to tell that she had executed Victoria Hand and John was leaning on the chair she had been teasing him about looking like a throne, grinning like a proud father. Which he was. “She had us take the long way around to the Fridge, just in case.”

“Are you okay?” he asked, concern bleeding into his tone. Apparently they had abandoned pretty much all pretense that he didn’t care for her.

“Yeah. Yeah, a little shaken up but Agent Hand knows what she’s doing.” The look on John’s face said better than any words that he thought she knew what she was doing. She decided to change the subject. “Any idea where Coulson has you guys headed? Given the lack of resources, I might have to fly commercial.”

There is a snicker from the other end of the line at her disdain of commercial airlines. “No clue. Sorry, Skye. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Cool. I’ll catch up when I can. Oh, and Grant?”

“Yeah?”

Skye felt the smirk on her lips, twisting it to be a little crueler than it would have otherwise been for John’s benefit. “You still owe me that drink.” She ended the call.

“Oh, sweetheart, I knew you’d be good but that was something else.”

Skye shrugged slightly, leaning casually against a pillar. “You told me to get him on side. I’m probably not going to manage that before my cover’s blown but that doesn’t mean I can't make sure he hesitates.”

“And you can put a bullet in his brain,” John said as though it was a foregone conclusion, and it kind of was. Or, at least, it should be. “Girl, I know he was the first choice, but I was so very wrong about that. Clearly you should have been.”

“Aww,” she said, scrunching up her nose in the way that was meant to be cute but he knew that she was mocking each and every one of the idiots who had ever underestimated her. “Thanks, John.”

“No, seriously, kid. I can’t say that I knew this would happen when I took you in but it all worked out so beautifully that I have no cause for complaints. Hell, I don’t think even Romanoff could pull the infiltration you just did.”

“What can I say? I learned from the best,” she said, the grin pulling at her lips so strongly that she tried to press them together to squash it but failed. John wouldn’t mind. “Still, it wasn’t without its complications.”

John watched her for a few seconds before scoffing. “Oh, come on. You’re not upset about that, are you?”

“It was a gamble,” Skye said. She didn’t point out that it was Skye’s life that were the stakes, because it wasn’t strictly true. The stakes for the past decade or so had been John’s life, since they were in a constant race against time. It was surprising that her adopted father had the patience that he did given that he could run out of time at any second.

“It was you who said he trusted you enough that he would do almost anything for you.”

“That wasn’t an invitation!”

John waved his mug at her as though dismissing her concerns. “Oh, come on. You’re tough, Skye, I knew you would last long enough for me to get there. I wasn’t going to leave the rescue mission to Coulson’s team, had to make sure I was there myself. Besides, you know I do better with motivation, and what better motivation than your life?”

“Your’s?” Skye said drily.

“Sweetheart, you know the lengths I’m prepared to got to for survival but I would never risk… an asset like you unless I was pretty damn sure it would work.” He sighed, looking older than she had ever seen him before. “Look, if the job was easy…”

“Yeah, the job was to integrate myself, gather intel on Coulson’s revival. You said yourself you didn’t want any bloodshed.” For John, that meant that he didn’t want Skye to take her habitual and permanent way of removing threats. No possible hints that she was anything more than a hackivist, that had been the plan.

“That was before I found out that Coulson didn’t know squat. Don’t forget what the assignment was. Don’t forget who gave it to you. And don’t forget why,” John said, as though Skye ever could. He was her mentor, her everything, and he was dying. Even if she hadn’t cared for him, Skye wasn’t ready to be all alone in the world with no one to set her missions and protect her. He must have seen something of that thought on her face because he pulled her into a hug, the kind they had perfected when she had first stayed with him to make the fact that they were father and daughter more believable. “And cheer up. We’re close, closer than ever.”

He steered her away from their alcove and towards where John had equipment set up for Raina, the scientist herself pacing slightly as she looked at what was there. “So the equipment’s here,” she said, looking vulnerable. “What do you want with me?”

“Well, Flowers, I’m putting you back in charge of the Centipede Project to finish Phase 3.”

“It’s Raina,” she said, a small edge of annoyance in her voice.

“Sorry. Force of habit.” John made all the right moves to make it look as though he genuinely was but Skye knew better. That wasn’t to say that John couldn’t be sorry about some things, very limited though the range was.

“I thought Phase 3 ended when I couldn’t get the truth about T.A.H.I.T.I from Agent Coulson. When they locked me up.”

“On the contrary. Your little bedside chats pushed him in the direction we needed.” John led Raina into the room with the bodies. “Don’t get me wrong. we’ve had more than a few setbacks. We’ve been testing these new drugs, they all have different numbers. We thought one of them might contain whatever Jesus juice brought Coulson back from the dead.”

“Where did you find these?” Raina asked.

“At the facility where Fury operated on him. Coulson walked me in, hand-in-hand.” There was an edge of gloating to John’s words but not so much as Skye might have expected. She wasn’t an idiot; she knew that her survival depended on being an asset to John’s plans. Still, she had never been one to just accept a situation. She had spent the better part of ten years slowly building up what small measure of affection John was capable for another person. Maybe that was paying off more than she had suspected.

“I’d like to see this facility,” Raina said, entranced by the formulas.

“Unfortunately, we ran into a few security chuckle-heads who decided to hit the kill switch. I loaded my vest with as many vials as I could find but none of them seem to be working quite right.” Raina tilted her head. “There’s the look. I can see your gears turning now,” he said as though he didn’t always see everyone’s gears turning. “I don’t have any gifts, Raina, but you do. I can’t succeed without your help.”

“I’ll need money and resources,” Raina said, because she was a sharp little thing. And yes, Skye fully understood the irony of her calling someone either sharp or little.

“Your bank accounts are already fully funded,” John replied and Skye had to bite back a smirk. That was her adopted father, always three steps ahead.

She stepped forward. “This is a hard drive with all of Simmons’ research. With Coulson’s and my blood work, all the data on the Guest House drug. If there’s a key to how this stuff works, you’ll find it in there.” Skye handed her the drive, stepping back to let John have the last words.

“If you need anything, just whistle.”

Raina spun as John moved past her. “Where are you going?”

John looked at her sideways and Skye took that as her cue to respond. “SHIELD’s most secure facility is vulnerable right now.”

“The Fridge?”

“Oh, you’ve heard of it?” john was practically glowing with smugness. “Yeah, we’re going to raid it.”

 

It was as simple as this: the only person that Skye trusted with John’s safety was herself.

Oh, he was a tough old bastard and she had no doubt that he could look after himself, but that didn’t stop her from watching his back like a lioness with a cub. So, when she saw Raina watching him harass the HYDRA rank and file about their weapons, Skye didn’t like it one bit. Casually, she wandered up behind the other woman.

“You were disappointed. That he wasn’t a real clairvoyant.” Skye knew what it was like to have her hopes and dream dashed upon the shoals of cold hard reality, knew the kind of anger and desperation that could produce. Raina looked calm but Skye’s job was one of paranoia, so she chose not to believe it was real.

“There is a question I would have asked.” She turned to Skye, face earnest and the HYDRA agent could practically see the con running through the scientist’s head. “You’ve known him a long time?”

“Since I was a teenager,” Skye replied. “He pulled me out of a hell, saved me from myself.” There. An answer, but lacking the specifics that would give away exactly what happened. She looked down, then up again with a small smile. Maybe Raina could see that Skye, too, was dissembling but there was no harm in trying. She leaned back against the brick pillar. “So now do you know me? Know how to work me?”

“I’m just curious. If I wanted to work you, I’d ask you about Coulson and his team, and how you managed to gain their trust.”

For a second, Skye considered not responding. Then she thought ‘what the hell’. “I became a mole for the Rising Tide,” Raina’s head swung back to look at her, skepticism on her face. “Deep cover tactics 102. Make them think they’ve already changed your loyalties. So I let them catch me working with the Rising Tide. They were angry but, once I got their trust back, they never once considered that I might still be a mole.”

“Huh. If that’s 102, what’s 101?”

“Perform selfless acts of bravery. Little things, like sticking your neck out for them when there’s no extraction in place.”

“They never suspected?”

“May was the primary threat. She was never going to trust me. So I made sure that even she would think that some of her mistrust was jealousy since she was sleeping with Ward, who I’ve been working on for months. Tough guy, nearly impossible to beat in a fight. So I made sure I wouldn’t have to.”

“You don’t seem like his type,” she said and Skye wondered what delusional world Raina was living in. Skye was a killer, not the sweet little hacker she had posed as.

“I’m everyone’s type.” She deliberately ran her eyes along Raina’s frame, having seen Raina’s pride, and the other woman might not have even realised that she had preened a little. “Ward was always going to be the next biggest problem after May. Garrett was his SO so I had to be careful that not even my choice of words gave me away.”

“And Coulson? Wasn’t he sceptical when a hacker wanted to join?”

“Hmm. He was the one who gave me the sales pitch. You’d be surprised how often you get invited to the party when you don’t want to go.” She pushed herself of the pillar, tilting her head. “‘I’m not exactly a team player.’ I gave Coulson someone to save, just like everyone else on that plane.”

“It’s that simple? You really felt nothing for them? I spent time with Coulson. He’s a good man. Someone who’d lay down his life for you. Don’t you owe a man like that something?”

“Sure.” And it was true, Coulson had trusted her and seen some potential in her when not many others would. She looked over at John, surrounded as ever by guys with guns. “But I owe Garrett everything.”

She owed John everything, and he was the only family she would ever claim.

 

Skye had never been to the Fridge before, being one of the few highly competent HYDRA operatives that hadn’t been brought up through the SHIELD ranks. She had heard stories, from John and later from Coulson’s team, but John was enjoying bringing her up to speed as Skye kept her gun trained on his back. No one would believe that she could physically handle him.

“It’s a hundred floors,” John shouted over the wind, “but the only way in is through the roof.”

As she walked him towards the doors, she could see the double take of the guards inside. She supposed it must be an odd sight, a woman her size keeping an agent of John’s experience under control. Still, they stayed professional as she and John came to a stop.

“Identify yourself and state your purpose.”

“Agent Skye, and you know who this is.” John did his part, giving the guards a truly creepy glare, with a bit of curled lip through in to indicate just how unimpressed he was at being held at gunpoint by her. “Hand called it in.”

“We have specific orders not to let anybody in without Agent hand present. Sp, where is she?”

“Where do you think she is? She’s heading to meetings with every high level SHIELD agent still out there. There’s a war going on, in case you guys missed it.” Despite her act, the two guards only shifted so Skye sighed. “You really want me to radio her? Have her turn the plane around, come all the way back?”

“That’s exactly what you need to do.”

Skye scoffed. “Alright. I guess you guys have never seen Hand angry, huh?” She reached for the radio clipped to her combat uniform.

At that moment, the chopper they had on standby, the one that had been liberated from the Cube, came looming up the side of the building. Skye turned to look at it, pasting surprise onto her face. The the guns mounted on its front began firing, and Skye grabbed John dragging him to cover, but not before taking a few badly aimed shots at the chopper.

The moment she heard the chopper peeling away, she grabbed John and rushed over to the bullet-marked entrance. “Open the door!”

“It’s against protocol.”

“I don’t care about your protocol! Open the door, you’re going to get me killed!”

The guard glanced over her shoulder, which probably meant that the chopper was coming in for another run. “Screw it,” the other one, said opening the door for them in the nick of time, Skye pushing John in ahead of her. All four of them piled into the lift, the guard post getting close to too shot up to be safe for the guards.

“Took you boys long enough,” Skye said as one used in card to activate the elevator.

“We need to radio security,” one said.

“How the hell did HYDRA know you and Hand were coming?” the Agent Protocol asked, turning to them.

The moment he said it, Skye knew what the response would be. “We told them,” John said.

In a flash, Skye had her guns out and a bullet in the head of each guard. “A little warning next time? I mean they had automatic weapons,” she complained, turning to give John access to her backpack.

“I couldn’t resist. It was too good a line,” he grinned, handing her a gas masked. Skye put it on, letting it conceal the grin on her face. The warmth in her chest was less obvious. Then, because John was awesome and dramatic, he gave another good line. “Let’s go shopping.”

 

“I have never been so happy to buy a girl a steak dinner in my life,” John chuckled, in a fantastic mood thanks to their little find. That was the thing about John: he was a psychopath, but he was reasonably predictable, at least to her. She appreciated that lock of volatility.

The phone rang.

“Skye, thank god,” Ward’s voice came down the line when she picked up. Ah, so they must have heard about what happened at the Fridge.

She put as much pain into her voice as she could. “Ward, I can’t talk for long.”

“Are you okay, do you need an extraction?”

She sucked in a breath. “What are you, crazy? I’ll be okay, I think I’ve lost most of them but you guys need to keep yourselves safe too.”

“Skye-”

“Grant,” she said, ignoring the way John’s shoulders were shaking with laughter. “I had this training officer, bit of a robot but he taught me well. I can do this and you guys don’t need to put yourselves in more danger because of me.”

There was a long pause. “If you’re sure,” Ward said reluctantly.

“I’m sure.”

“Well, we’re at one of Fury’s secret bases, though we got confirmation he’s dead. You ready for the coordinates?” At Skye’s sound of assent, he rattled them off. “Be careful.”

“Always,” she said, ending the call and looking over at John. “Fury had a secret base, but it’s confirmed he’s out of the picture.”

“Yeah, that sounds like him. At least that’s one last thing to worry about.”

Skye made a noise of agreement before hesitating. Eventually she said: “I don’t like the loose end.”

John grinned at her. “No, of course you don’t. I presume you are going to sell me on an op.”

“Fury’s secret base.” She drew out the words, seeing the spark of interest in her adopted father’s eyes. “A live subject for Raina, cause I’m not volunteering for her experiments. The two scientists.”

John was considering it. “And how is the risk of three specialists, including the Cavalry, worth it?”

Skye was a bad person, but she still felt awful for even thinking of what she was about to say next. “Whitehall’s program.”

“My, my. You have been keeping up, haven’t you, sweetheart?” he said. Skye knew when to keep quiet so she did. “Ward and Trip taking orders, plus the Cavalry. You sure know how to sweeten the pot. Sold.”

Skye felt some of the tension seep from her shoulders. If John had refused, she would have destroyed the phone and Coulson’s team would never know what had happened to Agent Skye, presumably taken by HYDRA. “So, what’s the plan?”

“Oh no, Skye. This was your idea; this is your rodeo.”

Well. Things were changing indeed if Skye was getting the chance to give orders. “Okay. Well first I need you to mess up my face a bit…"


	2. Into The Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their timing was awful, but it didn't help the fact that Grant had fallen in love with Skye.
> 
> Too bad he didn't know she was HYDRA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how about we all pretend that it didn't take me a year to update this fic? To be fair, I'm focusing on my other (and much more massive) AU with Skye as the main character so its not like I left fanfiction altogether. Unfortunately, I got stuck about halfway through this chapter and it ended up just sitting untouched on my hard drive for months and months until I realised that it was coming up to a year since I had published the first chapter and it was starting to get embarrassing.
> 
> So, of course, I basically rewrote the first half of the story so that I could get myself out of the corner I had written into. Basically, most of this chapter has been written while listening to the jaws theme song. I don't recommend it the first time you read it, but it could be some fun background music for reread :)
> 
> And the next chapter? No idea, but I'm feeling particularly inspired so hopefully it shouldn't be more than a month.

Grant was not normally so impatient but he couldn’t help shifting his weight slightly as he waited for Skye to return. The whole debacle with HYDRA being inside SHIELD had him feeling as though the world was upside down and inside out. Don’t get him wrong, he was glad that they had finally managed to meet each other halfway at the right time, he just wished that it wasn’t when the organisation was falling down around their ears.

The door opened, revealing Skye, and Grant felt his stomach swoop.

Someone had done a serious number on her, beating her up so badly that he suspected she would be lucky to not have any fractures to her cheekbones. When she walked in, there was a slight limp to her left leg. Nothing major but it brought up a fury not unlike that produced by the Berserker's Staff.

“Thought you might have given me bad directions,” she said, pulling off her purple beanie. With her hair mussed, she looked adorable and it almost distracted him from her injuries.

“So you didn’t see the machine gun,” he replied, carefully examining her for hints of further injuries.

“No, but a little warning about it might have been nice,” she grumbled.

When she was close enough, he reached up and gently cupped her face. “Anything serious?”

“Just what I did to the other guys,” she said with a smirk and pride was like a hot punch to his chest. It was actually kind of welcome, given the climate.

“Come on,” he said, helping her remove her backpack. “Let’s go find Simmons.”

“Fine, but after that…” She leaned in and his stomach did another swoop, making him as giddy as a school boy. “You owe me a drink.”

“Not if you have a concussion, I don’t,” he said, glancing at a cut he really didn’t like the look of.

“Spoilsport,” she pouted.

It was easier than Grant had expected to get Skye down to the area Simmons had set up as her labs, and that worried him. She wasn’t normally so compliant, and he noted that she hadn’t said anything about Agent Hand… or Garrett. He was mentally kicking himself for letting her go in his place.

“I’m afraid this might scar,” Simmons said, carefully wiping one of the deeper gashes on her cheekbones. The look on Skye’s face told the team, gathered around her, just how little she cared about that.

“Awesome. At least I’ll look badass.”

“She will be alright, won’t she?” Fitz asked anxiously, leaning over her. Grant was focusing on resisting the urge to do the same.

“I will if you give me some room,” she gave him a pointed look. “Also, I’m right here Fitz.”

Abashed, the engineer took a step back. Skye softened the blow with a small smile that made Grant want to protect her against the world. He began kicking himself again. She should never have been out there. They had known that HYDRA was everywhere, on the offensive. They should have known something like that would happen.

“So what happened?” Coulson asked carefully. Grant suspected that he was trying to keep Skye talking so that the senior agent could distract himself from her injuries. After all, the two were close.

“By the time we evaded the jets and got to the Fridge, it was too late. It was overrun. HYDRA everywhere. We couldn’t stop them.”

“What were they after?” May asked.

For a second, Skye looked haunted. “Everything. They took weapons, alien artifacts, anything they could grab.”

Coulson looked grave. “I assume that means the prisoners are no longer prisoners.” At Skye’s small nod, Coulson sighed.

“I’m sorry, they’re out. They all are. I think-” Skye stopped herself, swallowing. “I think I saw Ian Quinn.”

“And Garrett?” Fitz asked. “Did he get away?”

“I couldn’t- We couldn’t stop them taking the Fridge, but Hand wasn’t going to just let him walk, not after what he did.”

Grant couldn’t hold himself in check any longer. “Was he the one who did this to you?” At Skye’s small nod, he felt another flush of rage pass through him. His jaw was clenched so hard that his teeth creaked and he thought they were going to shatter. He looked over at Agent Triplett, who held his gaze. They had both been trained by Garrett; they both knew that they physical blows were only the beginning of what he would have done to her.

He always did know how to find someone’s weak points.

“He was a tough bastard,” Skye nearly growled, something dark passing over her eyes.

“Was? Past tense?” May asked.

“He was so focused on attacking me - on hurting Coulson - that he didn’t see Agent Hand go for her gun before she put two in the back of his head. Of course, he might have been betting that she wouldn’t try, not with the other HYDRA agent covering her.”

There was a moment of silence, both in light of the victory of making sure Garrett wouldn’t be a problem further down the track. Simmons took that time to gently place a hand on Skye’s shoulder, allowing her to get up from the chair.

“You managed to escape without major injuries,” she said, the relief audible to everyone. “But you really should take time to heal.”

“You won’t get any complaints from me,” Skye said, much of her usual humor and flippancy absent, something that Grant would never have admitted to missing. “I could eat a horse.”

“What about the hard drive?” Coulson asked suddenly.

Skye shook her head. “The whole thing was a mess from start to finish. One of Agent Hand’s guys turned out to be HYDRA, had been setting us up. And can I just say how much I really hate not knowing who’s on which side?”

“You and me both,” said Coulson. “Do you feel up to some computering?”

A small smile lit up her eyes. “You do know that’s not a word, right?” she said as Fitz slipped out of the room and came back with her laptop.

“I need you on threat assessment. Pull up a list of all the inmates at the Fridge. I wanna know just how bad this is.”

The entire time that Skye was tapping away at her laptop, Grant stayed seated near her. He didn’t say anything, just let her work, but he had found when he thought of leaving that he didn’t have it in him to let her out of his sight after everything she had gone through. It wasn’t that he thought she would break, but rather that he thought he would go stark raving mad unless he knew for sure that she was okay.

It was only when Coulson and May came in for an update that he managed to tear himself away, go wash up for a little bit. When he came back, it was to the delightful news that Agent Koenig was forcing them all to submit to testing before everyone could be trusted.

“You know, I kind of thought all the security screening was done with. One of the few this I don’t miss about SHIELD,” he said.

“I’ve never done one of these before,” Skye said, eyeing the contraption. She didn’t appear worried, precisely but she also didn’t look comfortable.

“Hey,” he said, gently taking her arm and stepping the both of them out of earshot of the other agents. “It helps to think about why you’re doing it, why you’re submitting yourself to the indignity.”

A mischievous smile lit up her face. “Of course, I should have known that the stoic Agent Ward is not a fan of talking, especially about himself.”

“They like to ask uncomfortable questions. Hopefully they won’t ask the one about the chicken and the porpoise.”

She looked confused. “What about them?”

“Exactly. You don’t want to know some of the answers agents have given over the years. There’s a ranking of the best responses in one of the Hub break rooms, or at least there used to be. But Koenig will probably just want to make sure you are HYDRA.”

“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to convince him.”

  
  


 

“Was that so bad?” Grant asked as Skye collapsed on the couch next to him.

“‘SHIELD is a terrorist group, why are you here?’” Her attempt to mimic Koenig was, if at all possible, even worse than her attempts to mimic Fitz’s accent.

“What did you say?” he asked, curious.

Skye ducked her head, a light blush on her cheeks. She looked up at him through her lashes and Grant wondered if that was how it felt to drown. “The team. Coulson, mainly, and you. FitzSimmons. May, maybe.” He couldn’t help but laugh at the face she pulled at the thought of the impassive agent. “Even Trip has potential.”

“Should I be worried that I come after Coulson in that list of your’s?”

She laughed and suddenly he had a lap full of her and she pulled him into a kiss. It was quick, far too quick, but he still felt a dizziness he was more used to coming from a concussion when she pulled away. “Absolutely not.”

When he had regained enough of his mind, he smiled back. “That’s a relief.”

There was a clearing of a throat nearby. They both turned to look at Agent Tripplett. “Just reminding you that I’m here too,” he said conversationally. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, by the way.”

“You’re welcome,” Skye said cheerfully.

It took all of Grant’s training to stop himself from going bright red. He had never really been one for PDA, and that was even more pronounced when a fellow specialist was in the room. It wasn’t testosterone, exactly, just… the training called for them to be, to use Skye’s words, robots. He didn’t like to show how he was moving beyond the training.

“Um, Skye? Could you, maybe, get off?”

The moment the words were out of his mouth, he knew they were a mistake. The grin that broke on Skye’s face was as bright as the sunrise through his rifle scope when his eyes had adjusted to the pre-dawn light. “Why, Grant Douglas Ward, I do declare!” She pretended to fan herself, rolling her hips deliberately. That felt… distractingly good. “Maybe if you stay really still, agent.”

“Still here,” came Trip’s voice. “Just in case you were wondering.”

Except he sounded as though he was far away because Skye was staring into Grant’s eyes, and she had stopped her movement at exactly the spot where being pressed against her felt really, really good. Grant was trying to remember why they hadn’t taken this step ages ago but then he was having a hard time even remembering his own name. He remembered hers, though.

“Skye,” he breathed, knowing later he would wince at how much he had given away with the reverential tone in his voice. But in that moment, he really didn’t care. “Could you move?”

The grin, if possible, got wider.

Distantly, he heard someone that wasn’t either of them speak. “You know what, I’m just going to go see if Simmons needs any help. You know, before I see something that I would really rather not, and neither of you are listening to me, are you?”

Skye was smirking down at him, and she rolled her hips again. The air left Grant’s lungs as though he had belly flopped onto water from a few meters high, in tactical gear. Again. It felt as though time itself had stopped for them, and Grant wanted nothing more than to stay in their bubble forever, all the more so when he heard the doors swish shut, meaning that Trip had left them alone.

She leaned forward to just pressed her lips against his. “Hey there,” he murmured.

“Hi yourself.”

“I thought Simmons told you to take it easy,” he said bemusedly.

She laughed. “If you can think, then I’m clearly doing something wrong. But I’ll be fine, Simmons is just being overprotective.”

Grant looked at her grin then gently placed his hands at her waist, doing all he could to ignore how her grin widened. His grip tightened and, with a herculean effort, he did the hardest thing he had ever done, in a life that included being one of SHIELD’s best specialists. He slowly, very slowly, lifted her off him and put her down on the couch next to him. Then, just to get rid of all temptation, he stood up and went to sit down halfway across the room.

When he turned back to her, there was a strange look on Skye’s face. “What are you doing?”

“You’re hurt,” he replied. “You’re hurt and what you’re feeling is adrenaline, your body wanting to celebrate that you’re alive.”

For a moment, the smirk slipped and she looked so very vulnerable that his heart ached. Then the grin was back and she tilted her head. “So why don’t you come and celebrate with me, then?”

Oh, god. He must have been a truly horrible person in another life to deserve this. “Skye,” he said and he made no effort to disguise how much it physically pained him to to go to him. “I want to. If you were just any girl, I would. But I want to do this right.”

Skye was looking at him as though he had grown two heads. “Grant, this is right.” A small grin twitched at her lips and it was different from the others. “Trust me, I’ve wanted this for some time now. There’s just never been… the opportunity.”

“There’ll be-”

“Don’t you dare say there will be opportunity later. You know as well as I do that there mightn’t be. There is a war going on, and neither of us can guarantee that we will come out the other side.”

Grant could remember the flighty hackivist that had first come on the bus and felt a pang of sadness that she had been forced to learn about the rest of the world. “Maybe so, but that’s no reason to treat you with less than the respect you deserve.”

Skye shifted backwards slightly, still looking at him as though he was the most confusing thing she had ever seen. “And what I want doesn’t come into this?”

“Skye-”

“No, Grant. This goes both ways. This isn’t an op, this isn’t just your call. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“No, Skye, that’s not- I’m not trying to tell you what to do. I’m trying to tell you that I’m not comfortable doing this, not now. This just isn’t the right time, and you deserves better than the wrong time.”

“Wow.” She looked away before looking back at him. “You know you don’t have to dress it up, right? I’m not a kid, I’m not going to react badly but because you rejected me,” she said as she got up and started walking towards the door.

“What? No, Skye, that’s not it at all!”

But it was too late, she was already gone before Grant could think to go over to the other side of the room and follow her. He nearly went out, but some small amount of self-respect stopped him from taking their disagreement out where the rest of the team might see it. It wasn’t just his pride talking, thought that was there; it was also the fact that it wasn’t fair on the others to drag them into Skye and Grant’s disagreement.

He took a deep breath, resisting the urge to punch something, anything. Everything had been going so well there for a few moments that he had thought that everything would turn out alright. He really should have known better; nothing Grant's life had ever turned out for the better. He just didn't have that kind of luck.

When he was sure that he wasn't going to punch anyone who came up to talk to him, he left the common area, not caring if the door slammed behind him. He stalked down the corridor, hoping that there was no one in the exercise area, and most especially not Skye. As it turned out, she wasn't there but someone even worse was: Coulson.

Coulson took one look at him and sighed. "Really? That was what? Twenty hours?"

"With all due respect, sir," Grant said stiffly. "That's none of your business."

"Ward, there is no SHIELD. I'm not commenting as your supervisor, but as a friend. Make that a friend who thought that the two of you had finally figured it out."

Normally, Grant would have walked away but the truth was that he trusted Coulson. Also, the man knew Skye pretty well. "We had different ideas about timing."

"Ah," the more senior agent said understandingly. "She wanted to burn off the adrenaline and you wanted to make sure she actually wanted you, not just anyone."

It wasn't how Grant would have put it but it was still a pretty good summary. "Pretty much."

Annoyingly, Coulson just grinned at them as though they were both toddlers. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. Just give it time. You're very different people and you need to relax into it, find a good half-way point."

"And in the meantime?"

"In the meantime, there are plenty of punching bags," Coulson replied, still looking far too amused for Grant's taste.

"Gee, thanks, sir," he said and they both blinked in surprise at how much that was like something Skye would say.

"I think she'll be very good for you, Ward," Coulson said, looking as though he was trying to stop himself from laughing.

“I just wish…”

Coulson sobered up. “I know. For what its worth, I do think that the two of you will get there. Just think of how much better it will be because of the wait.”

“I don’t know, sir. I think it would be pretty good anyway.”

“Yeah, well-”

There was a quiet rumble, nothing particularly worrying unless you had a lot of experience in ops. Both Grant and Coulson were on the ground, ducking behind whatever could give them some protection before the brains even kicked into gear. Then the sound of the explosion hit them like a punch, and Grant felt his ears ringing.

“The hanger!” Coulson yelled.

But Grant had other priorities. “I need to find Skye!”

For a moment, Grant thought that the former senior agent was going to argue, but then he nodded and picked himself up, unholstering his gun and moving off through the corridors in the direction of the hanger, the most likely breech point. Grant was moving in the opposite direction, the one he thought Skye had gone. He was panting with exertion, moving faster than he ever had in his life. If Skye-

He skidded to a stop as he rounded the corner. Skye. She was okay, he could breathe a little bit easier. She was standing there with Trip, eyeing him semi-warily and-

Of course.

Garrett had turned out to be HYDRA. Of course Skye would be wary of Trip. Grant felt a little spark of pride that she was no longer as naive as she used to be, and a little bit of sadness too.

“Skye!” he called and she turned towards him. She gave him a weak smile.

“What’s going on?” she asked, even as she shifted slightly closer to Trip. Grant frowned, then shook the worry away.

“We’re under attack, probably by HYDRA,” he replied, stepping up closer to reassure her

“How did they find us?” Trip asked, a worried frown on his face. “Its not like this is main street.”

“Were we bugged?” Grant asked, hoping that was the case.

“Or they followed me,” Skye said quietly. Damn. He was hoping that she wouldn’t think of that. Even if it did turn out to be what had happened, Skye didn’t deserve to blame herself. She did all that she could and she absolutely should have come back to safety, even if it opened them up to being found by HYDRA.

“We can figure that out later,” Trip said. As uncomfortable as he had been earlier about letting Trip see that he had feelings, he had no problem shooting him a look full of thanks for distracting Skye. He got a nod of acknowledgment back.

“Coulson’s gone to the hanger,” Ward told them.

“On his own?” Skye asked, frowning.

Trip was already ahead of her. “We don’t have the numbers to take any kind of serious force. Even if Fitz, Simmons and Koenig are decent fighters, you’re still injured Skye. That leaves only us two, Coulson and May.”

“Hey now, I don’t mind those odds,” Skye said. Grant felt a rush of affection as she tried to put a brave face on it.

“I do,” Trip said. “Those are losing odds.”

“You got any better ideas?” Skye asked.

There was a moment of silence as they all thought about it. It was pretty obvious that none of them had any better ideas than just attack, at least not when the didn’t know where the others were. If they were all together, at least the could retreat. Tactically, losing Providence wasn’t great but it was sure better than all of them getting captured by Hydra.

“Get everyone together,” Grant said. “We need to get out of here.”

Trip must have come to the same conclusion because he was nodding before Grant even got the second part of the sentence out. “You said that Coulson was heading towards the hanger?”

“Yes. May’s probably there to. We’ll have to go and get them last. In the meantime, we need to get FitzSimmons and Koenig.”

Grant looked down at Skye, who was biting her lip. He put his hand on her arm, as gently as possible. He tried to put everything he can say into the gesture. That he was sorry about this silly argument, sorry that he had hurt her. That he wished they weren’t in the situation they were, that she could have a normal life.

Skye smiled slightly, but there were still shadows in her eyes that Grant didn’t like.

“Can you figure out where everyone is?” Grant asked, hoping that the shadows would disappear once Skye was busy. She nodded, pulling out her phone. If it was anyone else, Grant would have been worried about how few taps were required for her to locate everybody.

“FitzSimmons are in the labs. May and Coulson are fighting HYDRA in one of the corridors of the hanger. I can’t find Koenig.”

Grant looked at Trip. “If May and Coulson keep falling back, that will take them near enough to the labs that we can swing by and extract them once we have the scientists. Hopefully we’ll run into Koenig.”

Trip nodded, looking thoughtful. “You know, if we go out one of the side entrances I bet we could lead HYDRA into one of the defences, even if they would be coming out from the wrong side.”

“Won’t we run the risk of falling into some traps we don’t know about, too?” Skye asked, starting to gnaw at her lip. Grant put his hand on her elbow, trying to be reassuring. She shot him and impassive look and his heart ached. He couldn’t believe that they had taught her that she had to hide her fear from them.

“Its a risk we’ll have to take,” Trip said grimly. “If we try to run, HYDRA will hunt us down easily enough. No, our best best is to lure them into one of the traps and they double back around to grab one of the jets.”

“Won’t they just shoot us out of the sky?”

“We’ll just have to trust May’s flying,” Grant said as gently as he could. It wasn’t a good situation but that didn’t mean that he had to alarm her any more than necessary.

Skye seemed to come to a decision. “Okay, let’s do it.”

Grant didn’t give her a moment more to think about all the things that might go wrong than he had to. He motioned to Trip to bring up the rear and moved to take point for the five minutes of creeping and carefully checking corners until he finally entered through the opened door of the lab.

Grant narrowly avoided getting brained by some dangerously heavy instrument by his instincts telling him to drop and roll.

“I’m sorry!” Simmons was already squealing as he came up from the roll. Fitz clapped him on the back, a look of relief on his face.

“Thank god you guys are alright,” Skye said, following him in and pulling Simmons into a hug.

“What’s going on? All we could hear was some kind of explosion and no one was making contact,” Fitz asked.

“We think HYDRA,” Trip said as he positioned himself to one side of the door, looking out even as he replied to engineer.

“We’re going to make a run for it after we’ve swung by to pick up Coulson and May,” Skye told them.

Simmons frowned. “What about Agent Koenig?”

Skye shook her head. “He’s not showing up on my scans. I’m hoping that he has some super secret tech he’s using to hide from HYDRA and that we’ll run into him on our way out.”

“And if we don’t?” Fitz looked troubled.

“We can’t afford to wait around and try and find him,” Grant replied, trying to keep the grimness out of his voice.

Both the scientists still looked troubled but they didn’t argue. Simmons just shot Fitz a look and he gave her a reassuring simile. Simmons finally dropped the instrument on the bench and huddled in on herself slightly. She looked small and out of place in the sterile whiteness of the lad, something that Grant had never seen her be before.

“Is there anything you guys need?” he asked gently. When they shook their heads, he stepped aside slightly so that they could go in front of him and he could take the rear while Trip went in front.

“Wait, are there any weapons in here?” Skye asked.

“No,” Fitz said, shaking his head so hard his mop of curls seemed to move independently of his body. “I haven’t had a chance to do any experimenting yet.”

Skye grimaced but nodded anyway. Grant couldn’t help but be a little relieved: if their plan was to run, they shouldn’t need any more weapons and it gave him an excuse to keep Skye out of a firefight. She went without a word of protest and he thanked his lucky stars for small mercies.

They proceeded through the corridors silently, even on the part of the normally talkative scientists. From what he could see bringing up the rear, they looked just as strained as Grant felt. They were under attack and it had been some time since Grant had heard any fighting.

Suddenly, Skye perked up, eyes locked on her phone. “May and Coulson are not far away. If we take the next right, we should meet up with them.”

Grant felt some of the tightness in his shoulders ease. It would be good to have more fighters around. Trip must have been feeling the same because he sped up slightly as he followed the directions. That kind of eagerness was something that they tried to train out of specialists. It said a lot about how Trip was feeling that it had managed to make it through.

May had her weapon trained on them long before Grant turned the corner and they came into his view. She lowered it, seeing that it was them but Grant was reassured by her speed. Even more of the tension left and he began to think that they might actually have a chance at getting out of the base alive.

“Steal a plane?” Trip said.

“Absolutely,” Coulson replied. “I don’t suppose you have any ideas?”

Skye jumped in. “Grant was thinking of luring them into the base’s defences, just from the other side.”

“Good idea, but there are too many,” May said. “They wouldn’t all follow us.”

“What about Koenig?” Coulson said, echoing FitzSimmons.

“I can’t track him,” Skye replied. “We were hoping to run into him.”

“Hopefully he’s got somewhere to go to ground. He does know the base better than us.” Coulson looked at them consideringly. “I think we’re going to have to fight our way to the Bus. Anyone got any clever ideas?”

Silence.

“Wonderful,” Coulson said. “This shouldn’t be difficult at all.”

“How many were there?” Trip asked.

“Thirty, maybe more.” May’s voice was as bland as ever.

“Then we’re going to have to be as quiet as possible. Ward,” Grant stood to attention, “you’re on point, hand to hand. Take them down quickly and as quietly as possible.”

Grant nodded, holstering his weapon. He was moving past the group to go down the corridor May and Coulson had come down when a hand closed around his arm. He was still turning when Skye pulled him into a crushing hug, so tight that she jostled his holster slightly. Over the top of her head, he could see that the others were looking away, supposedly to watch for HYDRA but really to given them what little privacy they could.

“I’ll be careful,” he murmured as he leaned in.

“I know. I just… we’ve had so little time.”

Grant pulled her in closer, leaning down so that his face was almost in her hair. “We’ll have time after this,” he said before pulling away.

“I hope you’re right,” she said but her eyes said that she didn’t believe him. But Grant knew that every second they delayed increased the risk that HYDRA would find them before they were ready.

As dangerous as it was, he couldn’t push Skye out of his head even as he took down one HYDRA  goon after another, almost automatically. He remembered the tension in her as she doubted that she would see him again, the way she looked up through her lashes at him as she teased him, even the hurt as he accidentally offended her.

Somehow, she had wormed her way into his heart when he had done his best to stop her. She had become his whole world.

That was the world he was fighting for. A world where he and Skye could save the world together, free from HYDRA. As terrifying as it was, for the first time Grant could see himself leaving the life of a specialist rather than dying young. Leaving the life, so they could grow old together. Maybe even retire to Tahiti and send Coulson an unending stream of postcards.

Grant could even see finding it funny.

He stopped. There weren’t any more HYDRA goons left in the corridors surrounding the hanger, at least not where he could reach them without drawing attention to himself. He had quietly taken down at least ten HYDRA agents, his mind was working enough to tell him that much.

The odds still weren’t great but they were better. They would just have to hope that a lot of them were scouring the base for Grant and his teammates. It was the tactically smart thing to do so he figured that their odds were decent.

He turned around to go find the others, but Trip was already waiting at the end of the corridor. Seeing Grant turning to find them, he turned himself and made a come here motion to the rest of the team. Less than a minute later, Grant had the company of seven other SHIELD agents, all trying to get glimpses of the hanger and the placements of the HYDRA agents without blowing their hiding spot.

Suddenly, all the HYDRA agents tensed, causing Grant to do the same. For a moment, he thought that they had been detected. Then he saw one of them automatically raise his hand to his ear, a common tell for people not used to speaking into an earpiece. No, the shield agents hadn’t been found. It was that the Hydra agents were receiving orders.

Grant didn’t have to wait long to find out what those orders were. Even from behind cover, he could see the general attitude of confusion from the HYDRA agents as they began to move away from the plane, towards one of the side corridors. Not just some of them either, it was all of them that were moving. It was also wonderfully perfect that grant couldn’t help but turn around to warn the others that it was a trap.

But Skye was grinning, phone out. It was the kind of grin that practically dared him to suggest that it was all too good to be true. Clearly, Skye had done something to lure the HYDRA agents away, and she was waiting for him to ask so that she could show off just how good she was with computers. Any other time, Grant would have been happy to indulge her but they couldn’t afford to waste the opportunity.

“Good job, Skye,” Coulson said. “Now let’s get out of here.”

The moment the last of the HYDRA agents had left the hanger, Grant was moving. He stopped a few metres then, once he had a sufficiently good view of the whole hanger, with very few blind spots. Once he could confirm that there were definitely no HYDRA goons waiting around to surprise them, he turned and gestured at the others to come.

He lets the others pass him, taking advantage of their distraction to offer Skye a smile as they approached the Bus’ lowered ramp. She smiles back before she flaps her hands at him to make him turn around. It was so childish and utterly different from the gloomy atmosphere that it takes him by surprise and has a grin on his face before he realises it.

He turns, and the smile disappears.

At the top of the ramp, Mike Peterson by his side, is a man that Grant had thought he would never have to see again. Everything that had once been familiar was cast into a sinister light by the knowledge of his allegiances, from the laugh lines etched into his face by joking around while people were in danger to the casual stance that hid the weapons that were always on him.

John Garrett.

“You’re not dead,” Coulson said, voice disbelieving.

Grant was already ahead of his superior, his hand going automatically to his holster, years of training moving his muscles without any conscious thought. But his hand closed around empty air and his brain stopped working. If it had been a computer, his mind would have been returning an error message. Well, okay, something a lot more colourful than ‘error’.

Where the hell had his gun gone?

John’s eyes caught his and the grin that spread across his face sent a wash of dread down Grant’s spine. It was the sadistic grin of someone who knew you hadn’t realised you had stepped on a landmine, but they sure did and were looking forward to watching you get blown to smithereens.

“Well, will you look at that, robot?” a dangerous voice came from behind him. “I guess I found a weapon after all.”

Grant’s world came crashing down around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who either don't have an AO3 account but still want updates on this and my other fics or who want to know new chapters are up right away rather than a few hours later or whenever AO3 deigns to send notifications, I've got a mailing list you can sign up to at http://eepurl.com/b3CU5z and I usually email out about updates within minutes of them going live.


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